Path to Transcendence

Chapter 365: Reckless Stampede

There was something quite interesting about the sickly green energy that infected his wounds. There were definitely Concepts involved, but he was more interested in how little death-aspected mana he sensed from it. Considering they were undead, he would have expected something much more death-related.

This substance was more like an actual poison than anything else. It was the very reason why his willpower and mana control weren’t able to just wipe it away. It took some actual effort to remove from his wounds. Luckily, fire was an amazing thing for this kind of thing, and once he was done cleaning up the undead, he gave himself a quick cleanse with [Phoenix Renewal], letting the fire wipe out the remaining poison.

He also smiled when he saw the notifications after he was done.

[Void Step lvl 2 -> lvl 3]

[Absolute Spatial Perception lvl 2 -> lvl 3]

He had been planning to keep on using only his kinetic energy, but he also realized that this could be a good time to focus on his Sharpness Concept. Which is why when he sensed the monsters up ahead, he gathered the Concept and channeled it through his body.

One thing he noticed about the Concept was that it didn’t work so well when he wasn’t using something with a sharp edge. Which made sense because it was called a Sharpness Concept and not a Dull Concept.

For example, his Force Concept seamlessly infused itself with his kinetic energy. It barely took any effort or thought on his end.

Still, he wanted to make it work somehow. Perhaps he could modify the Concept slightly to make it more versatile.

Thankfully, he had some eager volunteers already coming up to him to test his ideas.

The undead were much like the previous ones, and he once again found himself in a chaotic dance, using kinetic energy to weave in and out of the undead’s attacks. His physical strength and speed weren’t as great as they could have been without his primary enhancement skill aiding him, but it was honestly for the better. If he had been using the skill, it would have been overkill.

This way, he at least had to put in some effort. It also gave it an extra level of danger, pushing him to improve at a faster pace.

His Sharpness Concept was ripping out of his fists. He hadn’t created any constructs to cover his hands, which made it harder to work, but he still maintained it.

Instead of using the Concept to try to cut through the undead’s bodies, he was using it more as a smashing force. Without a blade or something sharp, making clean cuts was a pipe dream, and what he got instead was much more clumsy. It was like he was tearing bread apart with his hands, rather than using a knife.

When he was in the middle of slamming his fist into the face of another undead, he was hit by an interesting idea. He grinned as he couldn’t find a reason why he shouldn’t at least try it out, so without hesitation, he started to channel his Concept into his kinetic energy itself.

However, this turned out to be a massive mistake. What he hadn’t realized was just how much kinetic energy was already flowing throughout his body and by infusing the energy with his Sharpness Concept was comparable to mixing his kinetic energy with shards of razor sharp glass.

He belatedly realized that this wasn’t something that would be good for his body and he instantly grunted in pain as his very own kinetic energy started to tear his body apart from the inside. His muscles, which had been empowered by kinetic energy were now subjected to the infused Sharpness Concept.

It didn’t seem to matter that it was his very own Concept. He did his best to stop it, but his Concept was called sharp for a reason, and he wasn’t able to change its entire nature with just a single thought.

The undead that were already swarming him didn’t care that he was currently in a tricky situation either. If anything, they started to fight with even more fervor. As he did his best to contain the damage of his very own idea, he had to focus and defend himself.

To his credit, he still made sure that he didn’t use his other skills to help him. He kept to his rules and kept on using his kinetic energy. He was forced to use [Phoenix Renewal] though. The damage to his internal organs was a little too dangerous, and he had to make sure he didn’t blend his internals into a smoothie.

With that being said, despite the fact that the Sharpness Concept infused into his kinetic energy was killing him, he found out something very intriguing. When he released a burst of kinetic energy at the swarming undead, the kinetic energy was quite different.

It wasn’t quite sharp, but there was this added effect that wasn’t there just moments earlier. This effect allowed his fist to tear through the skull of an undead with more ease than his kinetic energy usually did. One of the things that made him sad about kinetic energy was the fact that it didn’t have much power beyond being a big, blunt force. It had only been with the addition of his Force Concept: Resonating Burst that the offensive strength increased drastically.

Without that Concept, he doubted that his kinetic energy would have been as dangerous as it currently was. It was why he began to transition his usage of the affinity to something more utilitarian. Like to replace [Flash Step] and to passively support his movements.

Of course, he had already been doing that, but he wanted to place a larger portion of his attention on it. He truly believed that he hadn’t even touched the first step in using his kinetic energy.

It was why he was experimenting with it in this rift.

He had been prepared to write off this idea completely since it seemed to be more harmful than actually useful. However, seeing this had him pause and realize that there was definitely something there to explore.

The main issue was that in order to test this technique, he might have to take some risks. By infusing his Sharpness Concept with his kinetic energy and using it to power his body, he was mutilating himself.

This wasn’t exactly new to him. He was no stranger to self-inflicted pain. But this was different. His mana never hurt him before. He was the master of his own mana, which is why the idea of his mana hurting him was ludicrous.

Yet, this time around, he would be purposefully hurting himself. He tossed around the idea for a few moments as he used the remaining amounts of the infused kinetic energy to blast away the undead. Their sturdy flesh tore apart as he did so.

He was on the ropes for a while, but he eventually reminded himself that this was the whole reason why he was here. He wanted to come to the Endless Forest to test himself and to put himself in danger.

What was more dangerous than having his very own kinetic energy trying to kill him each time he used it?

He chuckled to himself, knowing full well how ridiculous his idea was, but already knew that his healing skill would allow him to try it out without as much risk compared to someone who didn’t have such an overpowered healing skill. Thus, in a messed-up way, he wasn’t really taking a risk.

He would merely have to deal with a little bit of pain and blood. Fortunately, that wasn’t anything new to him. So he smiled widely and got to work.

***

He grumbled in annoyance as another flash of pain rippled through his body and more of his flesh was torn apart. But he couldn’t help but acknowledge the effectiveness of his new attack. As long as he did his best to contain the Sharpness Concept-infused kinetic energy, he was able to really lay into the undead.

The dozens of bodies surrounding him exemplified this.

It was painful, and it did more damage to him than it did to his opponents, but it worked. His kinetic attacks were more dangerous than ever. Of course, he had to sacrifice some things, and the mana cost to keep him healed in the meantime was annoying, but he believed it was something he could work on.

He needed to take a break, though. He was getting low on mana and would rather not risk it. He could take this time to eat and rest for a little bit.

He completely shrouded his mana and aura. Then proceeded to take out a nice selection of snacks from his storage ring. As he did, he reviewed some of the notifications he received during the fight.

[Phoenix Renewal lvl 13 -> lvl 14]

He was also quite surprised to see that he had another notification awaiting him.

Would you like to learn the skill [Reckless Stampede]?

He was offered a new skill. Something that didn’t happen that regularly. However, when he read the name, he frowned, taking offense at the implication it was making about his actions. This was the first time he felt like the Words of the World were purposefully trying to insult him.

He couldn’t exactly blame or argue it either. Still, he chose to ignore the notification. He didn’t deny the skill option. He learned that it was better to leave it be since there was no time limit on choosing it.

It was unlikely, but perhaps one day he might find the skill more interesting and choose it. He still had [Kinetic Restriction] available to him even after all this time.

Speaking of [Kinetic Restriction], he wondered if it would be a good idea to choose to skill now? If he was going to improve his kinetic energy control and abilities, he was curious if having a dedicated kinetic energy skill would help things along.

He took a quick peek at his status.

Name: Julius Von Hyperius

Tier: 3

Skills:

[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 9] (Epic+)[Armaments of the Arcane lvl 15] (Epic)[Sage of Savagery lvl 16] (Epic)[Phoenix Renewal lvl 14] (Epic)[Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 11] (Epic)[Absolute Spatial Perception lvl 3] (Epic)[Void Step lvl 3] (Epic+)[Barrier of Severance lvl 19] (Rare+)[Spatial Crack lvl 12] (Rare)
Current Skill Slots: 9/11

Concepts:

[Concept of Sharpness][Severing Will][Concept of Will][Inexorable Resolve][Concept of Phoenix][Ashen Rebirth][Concept of Force][Resonating Burst][Concept of Space][Chaotic Space]
He grinned to himself. His status was filling out rather nicely. He now had five total Concepts and was only left with two rare skills that hadn’t evolved to epic. The other seven had already crossed that threshold.

He did wonder if there was a limit to Concepts, like there was a limit to skills. He hadn’t really asked, but it was certainly a possibility. However, if that was true, then he was curious about what would happen when he hit the limit. Hell, he didn’t even know if five was the limit or if he could gain an extra slot like his skills could.

He also realized that there were still two more skill slots available, and the more he thought about it, the more he began to think that it would be a good idea to get another kinetic skill other than his [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin], even though that skill wasn’t really a kinetic skill.

Sure it used kinetic energy, but it was primarily an aura based body enhancement skill that also used fire mana and kinetic energy to power it.

While [Reckless Stampede] wasn’t a skill he was thinking about getting, his mind started to wander as he thought of other skills that could help him improve his kinetic abilities. Perhaps, it might even be something that focused on his new technique he had just experimented with.

He shrugged his shoulders as these thoughts passed him by. That was enough time spent on thinking, it was time to get back to some more training. He wanted to figure out if it was possible to use this new technique without taking the risk of tearing his body apart.

And the only way he knew how to find out was to keep on using it.